In absolute terms, never so few nuclear terawattheures have been produced since 1988, before the end of the construction of the nuclear fleet.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
This is a record since 1992. Electricity production in France, in 2022, has been the lowest last year, announced Thursday, February 16, the manager of the RTE electricity transport network in its annual report . According to him, this is explained by a historic drop in nuclear production linked to the difficulties of the EDF reactor fleet.
Only 62.7 % of electricity was of nuclear origin last year, compared to 69 % in 2021 and more than 70 % before. In absolute terms, never so few terawatt hours (TWh) of nuclear origin had been produced since 1988, before the end of the construction of the nuclear fleet, a production of 279 TWh in 2022, far from the time where France produced 430 TWh as in 2005.
“France showed its resilience”
Despite an unprecedented energy crisis since the oil shock of the 1970s, against the backdrop of supply tensions in connection with the war in Ukraine, “France has shown its resilience and its security of supply has been guaranteed,” Declared at a press conference Xavier Piechaczyk, Chairman of the Management Board of RTE.
France has thus avoided the black scenario of electric cuts in the heart of winter, thanks to imports of electricity and the rise in the nuclear fleet at the end of the year, combined with a drop in national consumption of ‘electricity by households and businesses. Compared to historical average values (2014-2019), consumption of the year 2022 fell 4.2 % in 2022, a drop essentially concentrated in the last quarter.